1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heart rate monitor displays. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for displaying a user's heart rate relative to a target heart rate.
2. The Relevant Technology
Heart rate monitor displays have been utilized in a variety of applications including, but not limited to, medical diagnostics, physical therapy, and long term care. More recently, heart rate monitor displays have been configured to be used with exercise equipment. Heart rate monitor displays allow an exerciser to determine his/her heart rate during exercise without needing to interrupt the exercise routine to manually detect his/her pulse. This allows the user to continue the exercise routine while providing indication of real time changes in the user's heart rate.
Existing heart rate monitor displays, while providing an improvement over a simple manual determination of heart rate, nevertheless suffer from several deficiencies. Often such displays depict the user's heart rate in a manner that is confusing or requires special training to decipher. Additionally, the displays can be difficult to read during an exercise routine or provide insufficient information to allow a user to tailor the exercise intensity to maximize the cardiovascular benefit of the exercise. Some displays fail to indicate a target heart rate or indicate needed changes to a user's exercising heart rate to attain the maximum exercise benefit. Where a target heart rate is provided, a visual relationship between the target heart rate and the user's heart rate is often difficult to determine.